22 January 2020
Berghahn Books will publishing thirteen core anthropology journals as open access starting with their 2020 volumes under the subscribe-to-open model (S2O). Based on librarian curation, existing resources, and proven processes for supporting journals, a subscribe-to-open model is now emerging that makes financing sustainable open access more attainable, especially for smaller journals in the social sciences and humanities.
Managing Director, Vivian Berghahn, said, “We have been emboldened to take this significant step, thanks not only to the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from the library community, who regard this approach as a progressive model worthy of support, but by the anthropology researcher community itself, who have mobilized as a discipline to endorse the pilot as a means for realizing a more equitable and globally inclusive solution for open access publishing.”
Participating libraries include open access pioneers who have shown their support for the pilot by subscribing to the entire collection, with other libraries affirming their backing when renewing subscriptions at the select title level. In adopting the model, many librarians are continuing to underwrite the journals their faculty has always endorsed, with other librarians drawn to a model that allows all readers and authors to benefit from open access alongside those in their own institution.
S2O was initiated by Annual Reviews. The Berghahn Open Anthro adaptation was conceived and implemented in partnership with Libraria. Berghahn Books is also working closely with Knowledge Unlatched. Full details of the Berghahn Open Anthro initiative, including the list of participating libraries, are available on the Berghahn website.